I have been featured on HaD a few times, sometimes for things I'd expect, but often for things that make me scratch my head.

For instance, I can't really figure out why anyone would want to feature my 'how I do SMT' video or a preview video of my pocketwatch project... Meanwhile, videos I think are the bees knees, like videos on how the LSM303 can do magnetic rotary detection inches from a target don't go anywhere?

From what I have seen, information about an item [spec-sheet, etc], is not as interesting to someone here as just the fact of it's existance - and more importantly, since the essence of 'hacking' is how-to, any topic on 'how-to' is of interest, because it relays hands-on knowledge [craftsmanship] which is much harder to find information on - how many are here because they seek mentoring in aspects of the craft of hacking in all its forms?

Even the topics that many think of in terms of "thats easy - I've done something like it, why are they wasting time on that?", are needed here because when one is new, the information is new and useful.

[ I've been involved in the fields of electricty, electronics and computers for more than 55, 50 and 45 years respectively, and I still discover tidbits here that I had not known, or had not thought of applying in that fashion. { I like to joke that I've been in the field so long that I remember when comm chips were called "Thou-arts" } My design philisophy seems well suited to hackaday, in that it's: why re-invent the wheel, when you can steal a hubcap. ]

I was writing for HAD over the course of a year, and I will tell you how it goes

you have a group of people, all from different backgrounds and priority levels, with a minimum post count for the week.

emails would flood in, tons of them, hit the group and people claim them. Some, like myself would only claim the posts that they found personally interesting given the choices, often just making the minimum. Some would claim as much as they could write in a day if it fit the site's overall theme.

Which writers choose which posts and in what quantities is a personal choice, honestly all benefiting the goal of the site. That goal is to produce a wide range of projects that cover everyone that would potentially visit, making a broad reader base so everyone can have a little slice of HAD.

And no its not narcissistic to recommend your own things, its highly encouraged ... the biggest post I have had to date was a personal project, which nailed 32,000 unique views in a 48 hour period. Thats good for biz

We don't really have a minimum any more, but I do rely on the writers to find things that interest them. This serves several purposes. It keeps my writers happy and keeps the site diverse.

I do occasionally ask for the writers to push some stuff that I think would be socially relevant (New blackberry announced? Watch for blackberry hacks!). Or when I notice we haven't covered a genre in a long time (Hey guys, find some basic fabrication tutorials, we've been focusing on electronics all week). You get the point.

I'm curious how these things normally filter through. Is it normally the people who do the cool things send in, or does it have to get picked up off of somewhere else. It seems like only the things I post to reddit have made it here.